PARKLAND, Fla. — A former student went on a shooting rampage at a Florida high school Wednesday, leaving 17 dead while panicked students barricaded themselves inside classrooms and frantic parents raced to the scene.

Some of those mothers and fathers were still waiting into the night for word whether their child survived the massacre. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said five of the 17 victims have still not been identified as of 9:30 p.m. ET — about seven hours after the shooting.

Cruz was arrested a short distance from the school near a home, a law enforcement official who is not authorized to comment publicly told USA TODAY. Students recognized the suspect during the assault, he said.

Flanked by officers, the suspect was later escorted into a police station wearing a hospital gown.

"Another horrific day, a detestable day," Israel said. "I'm absolutely sick to my stomach to see children who go to school armed with backpacks and pencils lose their lives."

The shooting happened about 2 p.m. at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., which is about 30 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale, according to the Coral Springs Police Department.

The 17 dead include students and adults, Israel said. Others were injured and taken to local hospitals, including at least 14 who were treated at Broward Health Medical Center and Broward Health North in Deerfield Beach.

Several were in critical condition Wednesday night.

Avoid the area of Stoneman Douglas HS. #BSO is currently working a developing incident regarding a report of active shooter.

Students said chaos ensued when a fire alarm sounded in the school near dismissal time — then the gunfire started. Israel said Cruz started shooting outside then made his way through the school's hallways.

He wore a gas mask and used smoke grenades "so the kids would come out in the hallways and thus, he had the opportunity with crowded hallways to start picking off people," Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., told MSNBC.

Student Rebecca Bogart, 17, wasn’t sure whether the reports of shooting were a drill at first.

The school had a fire drill earlier that day, and she knew it was somewhat common to do an active shooter drill.

It wasn’t until the windows of her first floor classroom shattered and Bogart saw a bullet near the shades did she understand what was happening.

Bogart said that’s what she and her classmates tried to do as they hid from the shooter.

Though she couldn’t see them from under the teacher’s desk where she was hiding, Bogart said she could hear four of her classmates screaming in pain from injuries.

She added she didn’t know whether they had been shot.

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Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel says there are multiple casualties in a shooting at a high school in South Florida. (Feb. 14)
AP

When SWAT officers entered the classroom, they escorted students out. As Bogart walked down the hall, she saw students covered in blood.

Officers told the students to get as far away as possible. Bogart said she walked miles before stopping to get picked up by her father.

“I’m still in shock right now,” she said.

Television footage showed the terrifying moments outside the school. Students ran single file from the building with their hands in the air — throwing backpacks into a large pile and huddling under trees across the street.

As students scrambled to safety, law enforcers with weapons drawn approached the building.

Some students and teachers who fled the school told reporters they knew the former student and that he had guns.

As friends hiding from the shooter sent photos and videos over Snapchat to 19-year-old Jillian Davis, she started to recognize the suspect as a former classmate who had a history of making dark, gun-related jokes.

Cruz, a classmate who participated in Davis’s ninth grade JROTC group, was usually a quiet kid who kept to himself, but “there was a lot of anger management issues there,” Davis said.

“Finding out it was him makes a lot of sense now,” she said.

Cruz would joke about shooting people or shooting up establishments, she said. At the time, she thought it was normal, violent teenage jokes, she said. Cruz would also talk a lot about having guns and using them in different situations, she said.

Math teacher Jim Gard told the Miami Herald he taught the suspect last year, who he said was troubled.

"We were told last year that he wasn’t allowed on campus with a backpack on him,” Gard told the newspaper. “There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus.”

Israel said authorities were scouring through anything that would lead them to a motive in the tragedy, including a website and social media pages.

Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie said it was a dark day in the county's history.

"It's a horrific situation. It's just a horrible day for us," he said. "... This is a day we prayed would never happen in our county."

He said every high school in the county has a police presence, adding there are typically two officers at every school.

Mourners leave the funeral of Peter Wang, 15, who was a JROTC cadet, at Kraeer Funeral home on Feb. 20, 2018 in Coral Springs, Florida. Wang was killed in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School along with 16 other people.
Joe Raedle, Getty Images

Alex Wang holds a picture of his brother, Peter Wang, a victim in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, after his brother's funeral on Feb. 20, 2018, at Kraeer Funeral Home in Coral Springs, Fla.
Taimy Alvarez, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, via AP

Tyra Hemans, 19, who survived the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, waits to board a bus in Parkland, Fla., Feb. 20, 2018. The students plan to hold a rally Wednesday in hopes that it will put pressure on the state's Republican-controlled Legislature to consider a sweeping package of gun-control laws, something some GOP lawmakers said Monday they would consider.
Gerald Herbert, AP

Students who survived the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School,along with survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting, cheer before the students board a bus in Parkland, Fla. on Feb. 20, 2018, to rally outside the state capitol and talk to legislators about gun control reform.
Gerald Herbert, AP

Sheryl Acquarola, a 16-year-old junior from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is overcome with emotion in the east gallery of the House of Representatives after the representatives voted not to hear a bill banning assault rifles and large capacity magazines. Acquarola was one of the survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that left 17 dead, who were in Tallahassee on Feb. 20, 2018 to meet with Florida lawmakers.
Mark Wallheiser, AP

Survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and other students from Broward County, Fla. high schools listen to Sen. Bobby Powell in his office at the Florida Capital in Tallahassee, Fla., Feb 20, 2018.
Mark Wallheiser, AP

Rep. Bobby DuBose thanks the survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and other students from Broward County, Fla. high schools for coming to see him at the Florida Capital in Tallahassee, Fla., Feb 20, 2018.
Mark Wallheiser, AP

People visit a makeshift memorial in front of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 19, 2018 in Parkland, Fla. Police arrested and charged 19 year old former student Nikolas Cruz for the February 14 shooting that killed 17 people.
Joe Raedle, Getty Images

Ashley Boul, right, and Joel Robinson, who is an alumni of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, visit a makeshift memorial in front of the school on Feb. 19, 2018 in Parkland, Fla.
Joe Raedle, Getty Images

Max Bromberg hugs his brother Samuel Bromberg, both of whom graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, as they visit a makeshift memorial in front of the school on Feb. 19, 2018 in Parkland, Fla.
Joe Raedle, Getty Images

Cindy Sotelo, right, cries with her daughter, Jessica Malone, an alumna of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, as they visit a makeshift memorial in front of the school on Feb. 19, 2018 in Parkland, Fla.
Joe Raedle, Getty Images

Sara Smith, left, and her daughter Karina Smith visit a makeshift memorial on Feb. 19, 2018 outside the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and faculty were killed in a mass shooting on Wednesday, in Parkland, Fla.
Gerald Herbert, AP

Camila Valladares, 9, and brother Miguel Piacquadio, 25, light a candle at a memorial outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 18, 2018, in response to a shooting at the high school Wednesday that took 17 lives.
Dorothy Edwards, Naples Daily News, via USA TODAY NETWORK

People visit a makeshift memorial outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 18, 2108, where 17 students and faculty were killed in Wednesday's mass shooting in Parkland, Fla.
Gerald Herbert, AP

Pall bearers carry the casket of Scott Beigel after his funeral in Boca Raton, Fla., on Feb. 18, 2018. Beigel, a teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, was killed along with 16 others in a mass shooting at the school on Wednesday. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
Gerald Herbert, AP

Bryan and Amber Gruzenksy place flowers on crosses with their son Joshua, 14, outside the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 18, 2018, where 17 people were killed in a mass shooting on Wednesday.
Gerald Herbert, AP

Hadley Sorensen, 16, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, is comforted by her mother Stacy Sorensen at a makeshift memorial outside the school in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 18, 2018.
Gerald Herbert, AP

Isabella Vanderlaat, 15, and Gabriella Benzeken 15, both students of Scott Beigel, the 35-year-old geography teacher who was killed during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shootings, attend the funeral service at Temple Beth El in Boca Raton, Fla., on Feb. 18, 2018.
Charles Trainor Jr, Miami Herald, via AP

Emma Gonzalez, 18, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, cries as she hugs a supporter of the #NeverAgain movement at North Community Park on Feb. 18, 2018. Gonzalez became a viral sensation after videos of her impassioned speech at an anti-gun rally in Fort Lauderdale flooded social media.
Nicole Raucheisen, Naples Daily News, via USA TODAY NETWORK

Flowers are placed near unretrieved bicycles outside the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 18, 2018, where 17 people were killed in a mass shooting. Authorities opened the streets around the school, which had been closed since the shootings. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
Gerald Herbert, AP

Mourners arrive at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Coral Springs at Heron Bay in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 18, 2018, for the funeral service of Alex Schachter, 14, who was one of the 17 victims of the Parkland mass shooting.
Matias J. Ocner, Miami Herald, via AP

Mimi Milton receives a hug after a church service dedicated to the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting, at the First Church of Coral Springs, on Feb. 18, 2018, in Coral Springs, Fla.
Mark Wilson, Getty Images

Donna Biederman, bottom right, gets emotional while listening to speeches during a gun control rally in front of the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Feb. 17, 2018. Students, community members, elected officials and gun control advocates gathered together to call for common sense gun laws and firearm safety legislation in the wake of the school shooting that left 17 people dead and 15 others injured this past Wednesday in Parkland, Fla.
Nicole Raucheisen, Naples Daily News via USA TODAY NETWORK

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzalez reacts during her speech at a rally for gun control at the Broward County Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on February 17, 2018.
A student survivor of the Parkland school shooting called out President Donald Trump on Saturday over his ties to the powerful National Rifle Association, in a poignant address to an anti-gun rally in Florida. "To every politician taking donations from the NRA, shame on you!" said Emma Gonzalez, assailing Trump over the multi-million-dollar support his campaign received from the gun lobby -- and prompting the crowd to chant in turn: 'Shame on you!'
Rhona Wise, AFP/Getty Images

Alessandra Mondolfi wears statement jewelry, which she designed and created herself, during a gun control rally in front of the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Feb. 17, 2018.
Nicole Raucheisen, Naples Daily News via USA TODAY NETWORK

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Cameron Kasky speaks at a rally for gun control at the Broward County Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on February 17, 2018.
RHONA WISE, AFP/Getty Images

The soccer teammates of Alyssa Alhadeff listen to the live stream of her mother as she speaks about her daughter and gun violence. Alyssa Alhadeff, 15, was one of the 17 victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland,Fla. The practice at Pines Trail Park offers an outlet for the team, said Laurie Thomas, coach of the Parkland Soccer Club.
Andrew West, The News-Press via USA TODAY Network

Sad scenes of remembrances are still playing out at the Parkland amphitheater on Feb. 17, 2018. Crosses have been set up to honor those killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
Andrew West, The News-Press via USA TODAY Network

Thilaka Sritharan (L) whose daughter was in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when 17 people were killed is hugged by Lauren Duck during a protest against guns on Feb. 17, 2018 in Parkland, Fla.
Joe Raedle, Getty Images

Lisa McCrary-Tokes, a resident of Parkland says a prayer at each of the crosses that were erected at the Parkland, Fl, Amphitheatre on Friday. McCrary-Tokes lost a daughter to gun violence in Ohio last year and another daughter graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year. "You can't feel safe anywhere in this country," she said.
ANDREW WEST, The News-Press via USA TODAY Network

South Broward High School senior Sophia Villiers-Furze, center, protests with her classmates in front of their school on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018 in response to a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
DOROTHY EDWARDS, Naples Daily News via USA TODAY Network

A candlelight vigil draws thousands to the Pine Trails Park amphitheater to mourn a day after a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Mandatory
XAVIER MASCARENAS, TCPalm via USA TODAY NETWORK

Zachary Valdes, 13, attends a candlelight vigil with his family at the Pine Trails Park amphitheater to mourn a day after a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Valdes was at neighboring Westglades Middle School when the two campuses went on lockdown.
XAVIER MASCARENAS, TCPalm via USA TODAY NETWORK

A candlelight vigil draws thousands to the Pine Trails Park amphitheater to mourn a day after a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
XAVIER MASCARENAS, TCPalm via USA TODAY NETWORK

Brayden Meddaugh, 7, and his mother, Stefanie Mion, both of Deerfield Beach, pay their respects at a small makeshift memorial under the Sawgrass Expressway across from the entrance to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
XAVIER MASCARENAS, Treasure Coast News via USA TODAY NETWORK

Freshman Nyallah Penn cries during a prayer circle after a vigil at Pine Trails Park in Parkland, Fla. on Feb. 15, 2018. The vigil was held after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Wednesday in Parkland, Fla., that took 17 lives.
Dorothy Edwards, Naples Daily News, via USA TODAY NETWORK

Kevin Siegelbaum, a special education teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, leans in to pray on Feb. 15, 2018, in Parkland, Fla., during a community vigil at Pine Trails Park for the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Brynn Anderson, AP

Marla Eveillard, 14, cries as she hugs friends before the start of a vigil at the Parkland Baptist Church, for the victims of Wednesday's shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. on Feb. 15, 2018.
Gerald Herbert, AP

Austin Burden, 17, cries on the shoulder of a friend after a vigil at the Parkland Baptist Church, for the victims of the Wednesday shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla.
Gerald Herbert, AP

Milan Hamm, right, 17, joins hundreds of community members at a prayer vigil in Parkland, Florida on Feb. 5, 2018. Members of the community gathered for a vigil for the victims of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
GIORGIO VIERA, EPA-EFE

Friends embrace in tears at the Parkridge Church in Coral Springs before the start of a community prayer vigil for Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School shooting victims, Feb. 15, 2018.
ERIC HASERT, USA TODAY NETWORK

Emmy Halulko, 13, (left) and her sister Evie, 5, both of Coral Springs stopped to pet Jacob, a Lutheran Church Charities comfort dog while at the Parkridge Church in Coral Springs for a community prayer vigil for all the shooting victims at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School. "Awful" Emmy said about the shooting before breaking down in tears, acknowledging she knew several people at the school, Feb. 15, 2018
Eric Hasert, USA TODAY NETWORK

Kristi Gilroy hugs a young woman at a police check point near the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were killed by a gunman yesterday, Feb. 15, 2018 in Parkland, Fla.
MARK WILSON, GETTY IMAGES

Sheree Spaulding stands with her 15-year-old son, Justin who is a 9th grader at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were killed by a gunman yesterday, Feb. 15, 2018 in Parkland, Fla. Police arrested the suspect after a short manhunt, and have identified him as 19-year-old former student Nikolas Cruz.
MARK WILSON, GETTY IMAGES

Sheree Spaulding walks with her 15-year-old son, Justin Spauling, who is a 9th grader at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were killed by a gunman yesterday, Feb. 15, 2018 in Parkland, Fla.
MARK WILSON, GETTY IMAGES

Police control a road near the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were killed by a gunman yesterday, Feb. 15, 2018 in Parkland, Fla. Police arrested the suspect after a short manhunt, and have identified him as 19-year-old former student Nikolas Cruz.
MARK WILSON, GETTY IMAGES

Kristi Gilroy hugs a young woman as a police officer tries to clear a closed road at a police checkpoint near Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were killed by a gunman Feb. 15, 2018, in Parkland, Fla. Police arrested the suspect after a short manhunt and have identified him as 19-year-old former student Nikolas Cruz.
MARK WILSON, GETTY IMAGES

Max Charles, second from right, 14, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., speaks to members of the media after being picked up by family members at a nearby hotel, in Coral Springs, Fla. A former student opened fire at the Florida high school Wednesday, killing more than a dozen people and sending scores of students fleeing into the streets in the nation's deadliest school shooting since a gunman attacked an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
Wilfredo Lee, AP

People wait outside the main entrance of Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. due to the hospital being on lockdown after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL.
Dorothy Edwards, Naples Daily News via USA Today

Sheree Spaulding hugs her son, Justin, 15, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in nearby Parkland, Fla., as she speaks to members of the media after picking up her son at a nearby hotel, Wednesday, in Coral Springs, Fla.
Wilfredo Lee, AP

Jorge Zapata,16, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School hugss his mother, Lavinia Zapata, after a mass shooting earlier in the day at the school. “I was just really incredibly, indescribably happy to see him, because you never know,” Lavinia said.
XAVIER MASCARENAS, Treasure Coast Newspapers via USA TODAY NETWORK

Dalila Ladero, 16, of Coral Springs, Fla. stands near friends after being reunited with her mother at University Drive and Holmberg Road in Parkland. "When all that happened, I wasn't in my class, I just started following people...I was just seeing everyone screaming and crying and I didn't know what was happening," she said. "I was calm, I just started praying."
XAVIER MASCARENAS, Treasure Coast Newspapers via USA Today Network

Trauma surgeon Dr. Igor Nichiporenko (C) and director for emergency medicine Dr. Evan Boyar (R) address the media outside the Broward Health Emergency facility where victims were taken following a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, a city about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Miami, Wednesday.
MICHELE EVE SANDBERG, AFP/Getty Images

Worried parents crowded around the the school, some asking television crews what they should do to get information on their child, and students cried when they were reunited with their mothers and fathers. Some of the injured were treated on sidewalks and loaded into ambulances.

Twelve of the victims were found inside the school, two were killed outside, and two others died in the hospital. One additional person was killed off the school's campus, Israel said.

Melissa Falkowski, a teacher at the school, told CNN she hid with her students in a closet until law enforcement cleared them. Footage on local television stations showed SWAT officers entering a classroom with guns drawn and students shaking and crying as they held up their hands.

The shooting rekindled the debate over gun laws, and Florida Gov. Rick Scott was asked multiple times at a 9 p.m. news conference whether this tragedy marked a needed change.

Scott said there is a time and place for that conversation but this was not it, adding he concluded the whole incident was just "pure evil."

The state has pledged to pay for funeral costs for the victims and cover all counseling.

The White House also released a statement as the tragedy was unfolding.

"The president has been made aware of the school shooting in Florida," deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters said. "We are monitoring the situation. Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected."

The incident comes just weeks after a rampage at a rural Kentucky high school. A 15-year-old faces two counts of murder and 12 counts of first-degree assault after police said he killed two and wounded more than a dozen others in a shooting spree at Marshall County High School in Benton.

Several thousand people rallied outside the Florida Capitol building giving passionate pleas to legislators to pass tougher gun laws and pledging to vote out officials supported by the NRA. (Feb. 21)
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